Samsung’s Keynote Introduces Us To The Samsung Galaxy S Variants

Last night, members of the media were invited to the Skylight West in New York City to be properly introduced to the Samsung Galaxy S, or rather, the US variants of the device. Not only did we have a chance to see wireless industry big wigs on the keynote stage, but we also had a chance to play around with and explore the nuances of each variant of the Samsung Galaxy S, without any serious commitments or leaving money on a bed side night stand.

Before the media were able to get their poke on, Samsung took a few moments to properly introduce the US variants of the Samsung Galaxy S. Sprint gets the Epic 4G, AT&T gets the Captivate, Verizon gets the Fascinate, and T-Mobile the Vibrant. During the keynote, Head of Samsung Mobile Communications J.K. Shin said Samsung would change the smartphone experience with the Samsung Galaxy S.

The Galaxy S combines the three best in hardware and software. Today, I am proud to say that we are introducing the Galaxy S to the United States. The Galaxy S will raise the bar in the U.S. mobile market in three vital areas: Screen, speed, and content. Because of these features, at CTIA I said in the race to redefine the smartphone, the starting gun has just been fired and the Samsung Galaxy S is already standing at the finish line. Tonight, I am excited to unveil the winners in this incredibly important race.

And unveil they did. The Galaxy S variants all had jaw dropping 4-inch Super AMOLED displays that could easily rival the iPhone 4’s Retina display. And, as proof that better things were to come, Samsung reminded us time and time again that the Galaxy S hardware on show last night were all pre-production devices. The Galaxy S variants also performed flawlessly jumping from application to application, especially when it came to running games like Gameloft’s Asphalt 5. We have the Samsung 1Ghz Hummingbird chipset to thank for the Galaxy S’s 3D gaming prowess.

Screen, speed, and content were three vital areas Samsung wanted the Galaxy S to raise the bar in, and judging by its performance last night, it looks like they’re on track to do just that.

Sorry, the AMOLED screen is nowhere near Apple's. After using the Retina Display, it seems all other displays I've encountered pale in comparison. I picked up my wife's iPhone 3G the a while back and thought, "Wow! Can you say pixelation?" I've been checking around since that time and have only found more of the same with each Droid phone I've looked into.

Pete

I agree the retina display of Iphone 4 is by far the best, but i would not say its that much better than the competition of the newer androids. Unfortunately that is about the only thing apple 4 has going for itself, a gorgeous screen but lackluster performance with their 3g. What good is a phone if you have to "hold it a certain way"?

Adan

Your wrong The Galaxy S phones have a Super Amoled screen which are brighter, better contrast, than a Amoled screen in comparison to the Iphone 4 its actually abit brighter

adamprall

Oh whatever, another lame half-ass iPhone knockoff! A not-as-good screen, a not-as-good processor, a not-as-good operating system, without multitouch or a decent object-oriented foundation, running a lame Java interpreter as if it was an OS. So what it if it's a little brighter? The difference wasn’t even perceptible (in my opinion), and the resolution was visibly much fuzzier. Not a big deal, really.

Mike

Uninformed much? The Galaxy S has a superior processor to the iPhone4 if you want to actually call things out. The Hummingbird (Samsung's Chip) and the A4 are essentially the same chip except that the Hummingbirds graphics chip is a bit newer than the iPhone4 so there goes that comparison for you. The Galaxy S phones have probably the best multi-touch screen compared to most other android devices and even the iPhone. Sure Apple set the standard there, but the Galaxy S keeps up just fine. The OS well that's a matter of opinion. Does Apple have a bit more polish? Sure, but it and Android's functionality are pretty much on par with each other, especially when 2.2 fully rolls out and it actually overtakes the iPhone in several additional areas. The two things I will give you is the iPhone4 screen and iPod funtionality. The screen is beautiful and the text is more crisp than the Pentile display used in Samsung's SuperAMOLED screen, but colors and brightness is won by the Samsung. Combine that with the larger and more usable size (4") I'll take the Samsung anyday. As for a music player, Apple's 8 year headstart in that area is noticeable, but the music apps out there for Android continue to get better and better.

I am always shocked by how people fall all over the iPhone screen and its "retina display". What do they think will happen when you double the pixel count and don't increase the screen size. of course its going to be sharper.

In the end the iPhone is a perfectly good device just like any of the new Android devices out there, its all a matter of preference to what works best for you.

LenDroid

Great job laying that out for the iPhone 4 Fanboys I have had both phones and after thorough handling came to similar conclusion. The funny part is how a good marketing campaign can sway people more then them actually taking to time to have real hands on time with both and if they were take that time to do "good research" they would respect the capabilities of the competition.. But like you said it is a users choice..

Maybe one day when the Androids hold a 50+ market share they will finally realize how well Mr. Jobs has mastered and spread the art of "i" a state in which an individual truly believes they are more them the sum of all.

But then again most iPhone Fanboys don't have the highest of intellect, they needed the most simple device.. we Swype while "i" qwerty type… to the guy that spent way to much time holding his iPhone like it was the scepter of a Pharoah the phone war was over before they knew "i" can never be better then a we ( the Droids).

Lastly to the iPhone Fanboys, the President and most famous Actors/Actresses, Athletes etc use Blackberry and most Tech Geeks and Intellects use Droids… by the way iPhone users Samsung and LG makes your iPhone parts :))

systemcrash

Nice dick-measuring-contest y’all!

But I think that’s what is keeping the (fragile) economy rolling! (buying stuff we don’t need)

When looking into a BUSINESS ORIENTED phone, none of that really matters.

All those little (I said “little”) extras are sought mainly by dweebs still living at their parent’s (who often pay for it anyway!) Yours truly!!

sit2k

the iphone is a knockoff of palm os icon grid. hey good luck with the icon grids of the iphone and android, i'll be using a live OS caled windows phone 7.

between iphone and android? iphone doesn't stand a chance

Casey

I just got this phone and I love it, so you are full of crap..

Mdiddy

I have a Galaxy S vibrant and I can see no advantage in the quality of the iphone4 screen. I really have been quite impressed with the clarity and brightness of the screen, not to mention its scratch resistance. Overall it seems like the iphone4 except no camera flash, no forward facing camera for the video chat feature and no “angry birds” app. (a bit of a disappointment there but I will live).

Ted Rodriguez III

Sorry Todd, but you have no idea how a Galaxy S or any AMOLED screen looks. Brightness, contrast ratio, as well as response times make a world of difference rather than just looking at resolutions. Not only that, according to this (http://bit.ly/GalaxyS-vs-iPhoneRetina) the iPhones screen waste 30% more power than any AMOLED. FYI…the phone came with Avatar preloaded and it looks incredible. Even my wVGA HD2 looks better than the iPhone, the screens just to big. Which brings me to my last point…the 4" Galaxy Screen is the perfect size. My HD2's 4.3" is a little big for my pocket, but great for work, and my NexusOne's 3.7" is a little small. I couldn't image going below that and then i look up the size of the iPhone4's screen size and what do you know…3.5". No comparison. And no I'm not an anti appler (got my gf a iPhone 3GS), just hate their anti OpenSource approach.

RandyM

Todd, You are right the AMOLED is no where near the iPhone4, it is much better! I was ready to buy the iPhone4 then heard about the Galaxy S. I am very happy I waited. The only drawback is the smaller database of apps but I'm sure that will change soon. The Galaxy S is an iPhone killer.

sit2k

the iphone has been dead for a while now

DavidWilson

Dude their a style impossible to find? There are huge lines at apple stores still and you have to get there early to get them. lol you have no idea what you are talking about. Besides, apple took a leap forward on its retina display, its by far the best. Att is amazing and I have PERFECT call quality.

I think you are massively overestimating the danger Apple is in. In fact, I think it’s dominance is only beginning to be challenged not anywhere near being dead.

okmft

It's true; the Super AMOLED screen is amazing. I had the iPhone 4, and took it back for the Samsung Captivate (Galaxy S series on AT&T). The 4" amazingly clear and colorful screen blows other devices out of the water, and it was a better experience than the iPhone 4.

Leon Tang

i have a samsung vibrant and it sucks my iphone 4 and samsung behold 2 are all better even my brothers mytouch slide is better

I have the Samsung Vibrant and I absolutely love it! It’s a great phone and yeah it may be a “knock off” of the iphone but I am just as impressed with the vibrant as I was with the iphone.

Cam

The HTC HD2 is a pile of crap. I want the Vibrant and T-Mobile won’t budge on letting me do an exchange. I have had my windows 6.5 HD2 craptastic phone for a month and it constantly crashes. I hate it. Those are my thoughts that are not even related to this article. But I had to trash t-mobile and windows 6.5. Thats all. Carry on.

C.santiago

Epic 4G is awesome! been with every network all my friends have iphones and my phone is faster brighter and just better love it SAMSUNG GALAXY S phones are the best you guys did a great job on these series of phones!

Sharolette

I got the Sam-sung Vibrant from T-Mobile and it is AWESOME!! No crashes, no problems, screen actually looks better than my HDTV Flat screen playing Blue Ray on my home theater system. I absolutely LOVE THIS PHONE! I even save time getting ready in the morning so I can play with my cool phone, lol! T-mobile has been awesome regarding customer service and I can’t complain about a thing! However my boyfriend got the Captivate through AT&T and has had issues with his SIMS card as well as customer service and coverage which I found to be weird since the AT&T store is local in our area and T-mobile is NOT local so you’d think he would get better service and coverage for DATA and phone! He has had a lot of issues getting picture text, video text, and anything DATA, can get Wifi when available but that doesn’t fix the data issues. I have also noticed that the Captivate is slightly different in user functions such as ability to turn on and off the GPS. The GPS mode on the Vibrant is on the pull down screen and on Captivate you have to go through settings and on and on, it would seem minor in detail but not as convenient as the Vibrant and WHOA,, I thought these were like the same phones (GALAXY S) just different carriers with different branded names(Vibrant, Captivate), what happened here, why are the user functions different?

Longtime T-Mobile User

I have been a t-Mobile customer for 8 years. Just traded in my blackberry for the Samsung Vibrant. yes the screen is great but the functionality for e-mail. messaging & the phone pales in comparison to my 2 year old blackberry. They admitted at the T-Mobile storwe that the samsung has many bugs, and that’ll hopefully be fixed with new software in a month. E-mails with attachments download very slowly, the phone disconnects randomly from my bluetooth in the car, it locks up after receiving phone calls, it takes 2 minutes to download e-mails with attachments, the screen doesn’t often switch to the horizontal screen when you rotate the phone, the keyboard doesn’t work well except with swipe, etc. They obviously released this phone prematurely. Apple is getting a lot of grief for their I-phone shortcomings, what about Samsung?

systemcrash

There you go! BUSINESS ORIENTED phones vs. Now-You-See-Me phones!

George Clooney

MY phone can kick your phones A$$!!!!

jan

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Joseph

I do not have an I phone i do have an Amloid device.I love how the graphics jump out at you.I also think the I phone is really bought as a status symbol.